The Neighborhoods

Boston’s legendary power-pop trio pulled itself together back in 1978, finding immediate favor on the local punk-rock circuit and quickly earning headlining status. That support was cemented at WBCN’s 1st annual Rock and Roll Rumble in 1979 at the Rat when the Neighborhoods were crowned as the victor over 23 other contenders. At first, all that hoopla resulted in complete local worship, but didn’t resonate much outside of the city. While the band members had a huge New England hit with their single “The Prettiest Girl,” they watched as many of their contemporaries (Nervous Eaters, The Rings, Jon Butcher Axis, The Atlantics) went on to score national recording contracts. After a few years of no growth in that area, they finally exploded with a flurry of releases: 1984’s Fire is Coming album, The High Hard One for national alternative label Restless in ’86, Reptile Men a year later, Hoodwinked in ’90 and thenThe Neighborhoods. Anchoring the band since the beginning, David Minehan was the singer and guitarist of this three-piece, working as a recording engineer/producer and drawing together the troops for the occasional and always highly-anticipated Neighborhoods gig. One highlight was the group’s guest return to the 30th anniversary edition of the Rock and Roll Rumble, showing the young neophytes that this bunch of Old School rockers could still set a bar that was not easy for the newcomers to reach. They continue to reach new audiences in the 21st century, as their “Parasite” was included in Guitar Hero 2.(by Carter Alan)